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Star Wars: Path of the Five
"There has been an awakening. Have you felt it?" Dramatis Personae *Lucca Ren - Human Sith Lord, born on the planet Caritas. *Kylo Ren - Human Sith Lord, homeplanet unknown. *Luke Skywalker - Human Jedi Master, born in planetary orbit of Polis Massa. *Supreme Leader Snoke - Sith Master, homeworld and species unknown. *Lysander - Human Jedi Knight, born on Coruscant. *Gray Ren - Human Sith, homeplanet Caritas. *Tyxen - Gand Bounty Hunter, homeplanet Gand. STAR WARS: PATH OF THE FIVE It is an era of great conflict within the Galaxy. Though the Galactic Empire and its cruel leaders have been destroyed, remnants of the great imperium remain, and rumors escalate the the ancient enemy of the Jedi, the Sith Lords, still remain somewhere out in the Galaxy. After defeating the Galactic Emperor and redeeming his corrupted father, Luke Skywalker retreats from the greater Galaxy, searching the Outer Rim worlds for an artifact of great significance to both the surviving Jedi and what remains of the evil Sith. Meanwhile, both the Dark Side and the Light begin to shake to life, as if a great calling is imminent. The puzzle pieces are falling into place. Both the Resistance and The First Order, the byproduct of two great fallen governments, struggle to assert dominance in the Galaxy. However, the growing conflict extends far beyond military skirmishes. Both the Sith and the Jedi will be changed forever as The Force Awakens... Chapter 1 - The Knights of Ren Lucca thought back to the day he first embraced the Dark Side of the Force. Though he was only a boy, barely 16, his childhood memories seemed like another life. Things were different now - much different. Joining the Knights of Ren was a decision he didn't take lightly; he was only 13 at the time, and even the most senior members of the order were hardly 20. At first thought, he took them for a mere street gang of ruffians who just so happened to dabble in the dark arts. In due time, however, he discovered their true nature, and through discovering theirs, he discovered his own. After the virtual collapse of the Galactic Empire, those sensitive to the Force - namely the great Sith Lords - became figures of legend, even more so than after the Great Jedi Purge. In his last days, even Emperor Palpatine, arguably the greatest Sith in recent history, feared that the extinction of the Sith was imminent. The Knights of Ren believed themselves to be the next generation of Sith, bent on finishing the Empire's work and eradicating the Jedi permanently. The thought was alluring to the young Lucca, a boy who, at the time, hardly even knew his own aspirations. Two things in particular caught his attention, however: knowledge through self-discovery, and the prospect of unlimited power. In the years before joining the Knights, Lucca had been stripped of all sense of brotherhood and family. His father was the last descendant in a long line of rich nobles, though his father before him had squandered virtually the entirety of the family's wealth, leaving him with not a penny to his name. His mother was a different story entirely, having been born into poverty and somehow finding a way to make ends meet at every turn. Lucca had left his family on his own accord, seeking to see the world for himself beyond the tiny window of his bedroom. He disappeared without leaving a note, even spreading rumors throughout the town that a stray squadron of Imperal Stormtroopers had killed him in self defense. Even from the other side of the planet, the boy sensed the pain of his parents. He felt guility, but somewhere deep inside his heart, a hint of freedom began to rear its head. The Knights of Ren, a Caritas-based organization at the time, stumbled upon the boy on complete accident in the slums of the planet's capital. Sensing his potential, one of the founding members of the order by the name of Kylo Ren took him under his wing. The boy looked up to Kylo, fascinated by his command of something he called "the Force," and itching to learn more about it. As was customary for members of the Knights, Lucca was stripped of his original surname and rechristened as Lucca Ren. The Knights advertised themselves as pure equals under one name, never designating a ruling figure or even council. From his induction, Lucca was treated as Kylo's equal, though the latter undoubtedly had more influence among the greater order. It was both exciting and new for the boy, having never truly bonded with his birth family and now finally given a sense of purpose - something he belonged with. And something with which he could use as a means to get whatever he wanted. ---- The boy sat in his chambers alone, meditating cross-legged on the incomparable power of the Dark Side and shredding any hints of the light to pieces before it could corrupt his thoughts. He allowed his conscious to be spread thin, extending far from his physical shell and soon enveloping the entire room. Around him, eight massive stones had been lugged into place, none of them budging in the slightest. Lucca knew his task. He did his best to think back to the feelings of frustration and despair that ran through his parents. He amplified their desperation, drawing on it to accelerate the process. He'd heard whisperings among his fellow Knights that a wise Jedi once said, "Easy the path of the Dark Side is. Quicker, more seductive. More deadly." Lucca had no problem with that - in fact he had no patience to waste his energy on careful and collected actions. He'd begun to grasp the true nature of the Dark Side of the Force. Suddenly, a quiet but very distinct sound could be heard to his side. It was unmistakable - the eerie croak of rock on rock. He focused harder, concentrating inward and harnessing his emotions. Rage. Hatred. Envy. Desire. Fear. All five at once, blended together to form the purest manifestation of the Dark Side as he could manage. The noise became more apparent, gradually becoming almost painful to listen to. Being immersed in the Dark Side was like being submerged in water, however - sound, sight, and smells mattered little. Everything was but a faint echo compared to the cry of the darkness. The young Sith slowly opened his eyes to see that all eight stones had been lifted, all of them floating seamlessly a few feet above the ground. For a moment, he was in complete control of the stones, twirling them around, lightly battering them against each other, and even telekinetically juggling them. Soon, however, their weight began to outweigh his own. He knew the power of the Dark Side was infinite, but he could only draw on it for as long as his own reserves allowed him to - and he knew his reserves weren't nearly as large of an expanse. The stones, under the Sith's guidance, floated carefully to the ground, allowing their carrier to rest after the exerting exercise. All other attempts to lift all eight at once had failed miserably, and he had the scars and bruises to prove it. He could only revel in his satisfaction for so long before he felt a presence approaching from behind, not likely dangerous, but an annoyance nonetheless. "I could sense it from the archives. Your power is growing." Lucca rose from his meditative position to face the visitor. To no surprise, his mentor, Kylo Ren, stood in the doorway, probably entering unnoticed while he was immersed in the Dark Side. The dim light of the meditation chamber made the two figures just barely distinguishable. All of the Knights of Ren wore somewhat similar garb - dark robes, bracers, et cetera - but they all had at least one unique feature. For Kylo, it was his eerie mask, made to almost perfectly replicate Darth Vader's helmet while still retaining a personal touch. It almost seemed like a gas mask, with shiny silver metal making up the bulk of it. Kylo's cloak was loose fitting around the neck, carelessly thrown over the shoulder, mimicking a black poncho. The younger Sith was more minimalistic, sporting a standard black cloak with texts in a strange ancient language inscribed on the chest and lower arms. His hands were strangely uncovered, for he always hated the restrictive and pinching feeling produced from bracers. His hood was thrown up and extended down to his forehead, which, in tandem with his long dark brown hair, left everything above his nose in complete darkness. Some members of the order suspected his uncanny talent in Force Concealment played a small role in this. Still, for those trained in seeing past crude masks of the Dark Side, Lucca's faint greenish blue eyes could still be seen glinting faintly in the darkness. "You could have knocked," the young Sith said, half-joking. His voice emanated a certain degree of power and authority, yet still retained some manner of boyish naivety. Kylo, on the other hand, had lost all semblance of boyhood long ago. "Really, since when has being Sith ever been about respecting other peoples' privacy?" Kylo responded sternly. Silence followed, remaining for another few moments. A cold draft of uneasiness blew through the room before Kylo erupted into laughter, satisfied with his prank. "Consider that your final lesson in Sith philosophy," he said through his fiendish grin. Lucca raised his left eyebrow in suspicion. "Final, you say?" he inquired cautiously. Kylo drew closer to his young friend and placed a hand on his shoulder. "What you did today was all I needed to see," he started. "There's nothing left for me to teach you. Your command of the lightsaber is prodigal, your willpower is astounding, and you have a greater understanding of the Dark Side than most of the others could dream of. We may be equal in the Knights of Ren, but as far as we're all concerned, you're deserving of our greatest honor. You are a Sith Lord." Kylo waited for his young friend to rejoice, but he offered no response beyond a simple grunt of acknowledgment. The older Sith Lord cocked his head in confusion. "Something troubling you, Lucca?" he asked. Lucca turned away, facing a dark spot in the corner of the room. "I appreciate the honor, Kylo," he nodded. "But titles don't mean much to me. If I have power, then I'm more than capable of proving so. I don't need a fancy title to prove I can kill a man in good conscience." Kylo paced further into the room, facing away from Lucca. "Perhaps you're right. Still, it's an honor we've had for thousands of years. We're still Sith, mind you. It's a tradition, a title bestowed only upon those who've proven themselves to be truly touched by the Force," he tried to explain. Lucca was quick to reply. "For someone so quick to defend a so-called tradition of the Sith, you're pretty quick to throw in with that fool Snoke and his damned First Order." The older Sith scoffed in offense, now turning to face his still apathetic young friend. "Snoke is a true Sith Lord, just like us," he began. "And he's already begun to rebuild the Empire and restore our legacy, under the name of his new Order. Can't you see he's a valuable ally?" Lucca remained silent. Kylo didn't realize how loud he was yelling until his rant had ended. The new Sith Lord half-turned in Kylo's direction, arms still crossed on his chest. "Peace is a lie," he recited calmly. "There is only passion." "Through passion, I gain strength," Kylo agreed. "Through strength, power." "Through power, victory." "Through victory, my chains are broken." "The Force shall free me," Kylo ended, nodding slowly. The two Knights had just recited possibly the oldest text in Dark Side history, the Sith Code itself, the philosophy that the Sith had followed since their inception thousands of years ago. All of the Knights of Ren knew it well. "You know our Code," Kylo began again. "You obviously know the Dark Side. And you're the spitting image of a Lord of the Sith, at 16 no less. With all that said, how do you not see the obvious opportunity for greatness in Snoke and his Order?" Lucca now turned to face Kylo directly, still defiantly standing tall. "More than a thousand years ago, another Sith Lord believed he had discovered the secret to a final victory over the Jedi. He created a new Order, promising equality and temperance for all his subordinates. But somewhere along the way, he forgot what it truly meant to be a Sith. He recited the Sith Code obsessively, studying it for years. But in all his blind ambition, he had no clue what it really meant. It took centuries for the Sith to recover from his mistake. That, Kylo, is why I don't see the obvious opportunity for greatness in Snoke and his... Order." He spat the last word out with bitter distaste, making his stance on the matter quite clear. In his focus, however, he hadn't realized that nearly all of the Knights had gathered outside of the meditation chamber, listening intently to every word he said. When young Lucca finished, the Knights seemed completely split - half of them nodded in agreement while the others quietly urged on Kylo. The older Sith Lord stared silently to Lucca with his arms down, never moving a muscle for a few moments before quickly raising his hand to point at the young Sith. "I challenge you to a Kaggath." Even for the Knights that supported Kylo, there was a unanimous gasp of surprise. The Kaggath was perhaps as old as the Sith Code, the ultimate duel of two feuding Sith where only the strongest would endure, the victor only being decided once they killed or spared their opponent after decidedly winning the one-on-one battle. The concept was theoretically still in practice, but it hadn't been initiated for centuries - millennia, even. No one dared move a muscle. "I accept your challenge." ---- The Knights quickly decided to use the central hall as the site for the grand duel, immediately clearing the 30-meter space and storing the furniture and supplies in adjacent halls. On the left side of the ring was Lucca, his face still half concealed and hands out of sight. On the right side was Kylo, directly facing his opponent and quietly gathering his emotions. Lucca reached out to his former mentor's mind, carefully searching it for any possible weakness while taking care to stay somewhat distant to as not to alert him to his presence. He sensed Kylo was doing the same as responded by mentally shielding his mind as best he could. He suspected his willpower was greater than that of Kylo's, and his opponent's annoyed grunt a few moments later confirmed those suspicions. The two opponents paced back and forth, seething silently as they both attempted to harness their power in the Dark Side. An audible groaning could be heard from Kylo even from across the room, but Lucca remained silent, light as a feather. The entire rest of the order spectated from just outside the room, enclosed by red markings painted only minutes earlier. Finally, one of them, the elected mediator, raised his voice. "Let the Kaggath begin!" Kylo immediately drew his fiery lightsaber, additionally igniting two more miniature blades that jutted out from the hilt. This was customary; each Knight was tasked with constructing their own lightsaber, all of them unique and similar. Lucca had modeled his after Kylo's, utilizing the three-blade mechanism but using a slightly lighter shade of crimson focusing crystal to increase defensive capability. The younger Sith immediately reacted, igniting his own blade in kind but only activating the central blade, hoping to catch his opponent off guard later. Kylo charged at Lucca with unnatural speed, attempting to bring his blade down on his opponent's head. Lucca charged at Kylo as well, though leapt overhead mere microseconds before he could be eviscerated. He landed behind his surprised opponent and slashed wildly at his back, Kylo only being saved by ducking at the last possible second. Kylo turned to face his opponent, gripping his massive blade with both hands and pointing it towards Lucca. He may have been much larger and physically imposing, but Lucca was in peak condition and much more agile, an adept at using the Force to augment his skill. This time, the younger Sith engaged first, rolling quickly to his opponent and attempting to slice at his face. Kylo threw up his blade in defense, stonewalling Lucca's assault and locking their blades together. "You've learned much, young one. But everything you know, I taught you." Lucca knew Kylo was growing desperate. The older Sith had resorted to the old Dun Moch technique, a combination of verbal assault intended to break one's spirit and a passive mental probing to throw the enemy off guard. Lucca had spent months learning to shield himself from such an attack and still held his blade in place mere inches away from Kylo's masked face, blocking out his attempts at intimidation. "Give up, Lucca. You can't win. Surrender and you can walk out of this alive." Lucca rolled his eyes at Kylo's desperate assault. His words and mental attacks were nothing to him, and he still remained resilient. The youngster felt the dismay in his opponent's mind. His attack had failed - that much he knew. And now, the first signs of doubt began to emerge in his mind. Lucca managed a sinister grin and redirected Kylo's mental assault, taking note of his growing doubt and amplifying it to an unnatural level. Kylo began to sweat in fear as his grip on his blade faultered. Steeling himself at the last possible moment, Kylo wisely pulled away from the blade lock, keeping Lucca at bay for as long as he could. "You've deceived yourself, Kylo. And now, you've sealed your fate." Lucca sprinted towards Kylo, but in a surprise rebuttal, the older Sith sheathed his lightsaber and raised a hand out to his enemy, drawing on the Dark Side and unleashing a bolt of blue lightning his way. Lucca narrowly caught the bolt in his blade, absorbing it for a time before yet another came his way, then another. He realized his lightsaber could only protect him from Kylo's Force attacks for so long. He threw his blade to the side, pointing both hands to his opponent and unleashing his own stream of light blue lightning. The two Sith were now engaged in a battle of pure Force skill, both of them enduring excruciating pain as they fought to keep their current intact. Blue and purple cracks of energy lit of the room, nearly frying a Knight who had wandered too close to the battle. Kylo's rage was palpable; he pressed his attack to the nth degree, burning and scarring Lucca into submission. But the young Sith did not yield, accepting the pain and using it to fuel his own power. Kylo's attack reached a tipping point, with Lucca now barely emanating any lightning at all, forced to take in all of his opponent's savage current. Soon, however, Kylo's power began to waver. Lucca thought back to his experience lifting the stones. The power of the Dark Side was indeed infinite, but it could only be harnessed for as long as its wielder's own reserves could manage. And Kylo's reserves had run out. The older Sith fell to his knees, realizing he overexerted himsef as he panted heavily. Lucca, however, was now the living manifestation of the Dark Side, his reserves completely full. He rose to his feet, harnessing and directing his own power for a moment before cracks of blue lightning began to extend from his fingers. One single bolt of insurmountable power, a surge of pure Dark Side energy, left his body and met Kylo's sending him flying across the room with a blinding blue flash. Kylo lay still, hardly even able to pick himself up from the unexpected attack. He had underestimated Lucca for the last time. Though the young Sith was reeling in pain, Kylo's pain was greater. The duel had ended, but the climax to the Kaggath still had to be executed. Lucca stalked over to his fallen opponent, his dark robes smoking and seared from the onslaught. He reached out with the Force to telekinetically grab his lightsaber that he had tossed aside, igniting it as soon as it reached his hand. He held it triumphantly into the air over his fallen opponent, then brought it down only centimeters from Kylo's head. After a moment of contemplation, he shut off the blade's power, turning away from his humilated former mentor. "Do what you wish with Kylo, he means nothing to me anymore. None of you do. You've lost your way, just as so many Sith have before us. I won't be a part of this any longer." Lucca grabbed what little belongings he had and made his way for the mountain stronghold's secret exit. Quickly, Kylo rose to his feet, coughing uncontrollably and choking on his own freshly warmed blood. "Tell me, Lucca," he struggled to say. "Where do you plan on going? We're all you have. There's no where to run," he said mockingly. The young Sith hesitated for a moment and then shook his head. "No, I believe you're wrong." Chapter 2: The Jedi Knight Two weeks earlier... "Search your feelings. Let the vision's color come to life." Kylo Ren kneeled before the massive hologram before him being projected by the holoterminal in his personal quarters. He'd taken steps to ensure that the other Knights had no way of listening in on his conversation - he sensed rebellion within them, a distrust for the current de-facto leadership. Kylo saw a certain greatness in Supreme Leader Snoke - a trust that extended beyond a mutual hatred of the Jedi, but also a shared understanding of the Force as they knew it. The two Dark Siders' minds were now interlocked in a shared vision of the future. Premonition was an extremely powerful skill, but also highly dangerous. The future was ever shifting, and one outcome that appeared certain at the time could be rendered impossible the next day, hour, or even minute. Visions didn't always display the future - sometimes they could describe the present; a clear picture of some other location in the Galaxy. The Force connected every living and nonliving thing. With focus, an exceedingly powerful wielder of the Force could pinpoint a general location of something they were searching for. "A forest planet. Peaked with snow. Obscufated by the Dark Side." "I sense it, too. An object of great power - what we've been searching for, I'm sure of it. And yet, something else." "Yes. Something Light - a stain on its raw power. Something else seeks it." "Is it him?" "I am sure of it." Kylo shook free from the vision, taking a moment to regather his thoughts. The picture had been painted like colors on a canvas. The artifact he had sensed weeks ago had finally been located - his suspicions proven correct. Snoke was confident in the Knight's abilities, having experienced them firsthand. When the Sith had mentioned an item imbued with great power and ancient knowledge, his interest had peaked. "Refocus yourself. Dig deeper now - zoom in directly on our target." The Sith obeyed, lowering his head once more and letting the Force take precedence over his own conscious senses. The forest planet appeared once more, this time even clearer. His third person vision drew him into a dark temple under the thick canopy of the planet's forests, vividly experiencing its opaque and twisting walls and nothing more for a few moments. He began to see a faint light at the end of the tunnel. A small beacon of clairvoyance amongst an endless sea of impenetrable shade. Its aura was crimson red, emanating an eerie hum that grew louderas he came closer. Its shape, vague as it was, was clearly a pyramid. The object was small, but its contents were equivalent to an entire library's. Just before he could enter the room the item was located in, the vision was swept away, escaping the minds of both Snoke and Kylo. "The vision is made clear. A Sith Holocron, located on this nameless planet, harboring great archaic power lost for centuries." "Someone else is drawn to its power as well. An old enemy, the eradicator of our order..." "Finding the Holocron must be our utmost priority. Assemble a team and attempt to pinpoint its location. I will see to it that you are properly supplied." "And what of Skywalker?" Snoke went silent for a moment, his holographic image stuttering briefly. The room went cold as the Dark Side's sphere of influence grew once more. "Luke Skywalker is my responsibility." ---- Present Day... "Keep running," the voice said. "Don't look back." Lysander bobbed and weaved through the winding streets of Fawn, the largest city in the mostly lawless world of Caritas. The relentless visions he'd been experiencing the past few hours had been proof enough; the fact that a squadron of Stormtroopers, a Sith, and an alien bounty hunter were pursuing him had only served as a reinforcement to his theory that someone really wanted him dead. Tyxen raised his disproportionately large blaster rifle at the Jedi target, coming within seconds of firing the fatal shot before he was halted by his employer, Gray. "Do NOT kill him! We need him alive!" the Knight exclaimed as he turned the corner. The Gand bounty hunter silently nodded in acknowledgment, not willing to sacrifice his paycheck for one satisfying execution. The hunter and the Sith, accompanied closely by a small squadron of First Order Stormtroopers, were hot on Lysander's heels. At last, they had located the elusive Jedi that had been living under their noses for years. "You must not stop," the voice continued solicitously. "Your training must be completed." "Are you going to tell me anything useful or just spew a load of kriff every few minutes?!" The voice hadn't told him anything useful in the past few hours, but there was something strangely calming about it. Though his heart was beating at a million miles a minute, a certain form of clarity was festering inside of him, giving him clairvoyance in the relentless chase. He knew the optimal path for each turn, never allowing his pursuers to catch up to him. It was clear now that they needed him alive; if execution was their goal, he would have been shot dead long ago. The best he could do now was follow his sharpened instinct and hope to find a way offworld before it was too late. "We'll never catch him if he keeps this up!" Tyxen rasped. It was true - Gray recognized that the Jedi had made every choice with pinpont accuracy. How could he possibly have eluded them for all this time? All he knew was that an inconvenient kill was preferable to letting a Jedi escape the Knight-controlled planet. "Shoot to kill!" Gray ordered. The bounty hunter immediately raised his rifle and fired a shot at the target, narrowly missing him and landing harmlessly on the side of a building. With no holds barred, Gray ignited his lightsaber and telekinetically tossed it at the Jedi, nearly cutting his head clean off before the blade seamlessly returned to his grip. The Sith cursed under his breath and commanded the Stormtroopers to open fire, none of them coming close to even disabling the target. Lucca had sensed the battle since he arrived in Fawn to fetch his starship to leave the planet peacefully. His curiosity had peaked when he felt the presence of another Knight and a band of bloodthirsty killers rapidly drawing closer to him as time ticked by. He was not their target, however - they'd been chasing someone else, someone immensely strong in the Force, who just so happened to be heading his way. Both parties would arrive at the landing pad in mere moments, that much Lucca knew. He collected himself calmly, patiently awaiting their arrival, and sure enough, a single figure turned the corner, immediately followed by about 12 more; one Sith, a bounty hunter, and ten Stormtroopers with remarkably poor aim. The entire scene was a haze for several moments - that was, until he layed his eyes on the figure the Sith had been pursuing. Time immediately ground to a halt as the Sith's conscious thoughts gave way to something far greater. He saw himself, accompanied by four others - all of them systematically undoing the blunders of Kylo and his de-facto master, Snoke. He saw an artifact of great power, guarded by a being of even greater, more vivid power. Finally, he saw this stranger - this helpless refugee, standing triumphantly over Supreme Leader Snoke and dozens of Knights of Ren whom had lost their way. The vision ended, and Lucca knew what he had to do. "Do not waver from the path - salvation is close!" the voice urged on. Lysander was particularly skeptical, mostly because the voice had just led him into a massive landing pad occupied by a lone brooding figure in a dark cloak and what he could only assume was his starship - a great vessel, clearly equipped with the latest technology and enough fuel to get offworld and more. Lysander cursed himself for his gullibility, seeing the situation as an obvious ruse somehow perpetrated by his pursuers. Now, his fate was sealed, doomed to be struck down by the figure before him who had just raised his lightsaber in his direction. Just when he expected death, however, the figure ordered him to duck. Seeing no other alternative, he obeyed, rolling to the side just in the nick of time as the figure tossed the blade in the direction of his pursuers, slicing the bulk of them to pieces. The Sith who had been pursuing him gasped in shock for only a moment before he was sent flying back by a barrage of blue lightning. His bounty hunter mercenary landed on top of him, keeping him in place for several seconds, unable to lift the hunter's weight. Lysander regained his composure, looking in awe at his unexpected savior. The dark cloaked man lowered his blade as he turned his attention to him. "You... quickly, before they recover! We need to get offworld!" he ordered, turning and running inside the vessel. Lysander shook his head. "I don't care if you just murdered a dozen people - well, actually, I'm really quite concerned that you just murdered a dozen pe-" "You either come with me and get off this rock or have your hide hung up as a trophy for the blasted Knights of Ren!" Lysander cursed himself for his exceedingly poor fortune and sprinted into the dark vessel, following its captain into the pilot's room and strapping himself in on the passenger's chair. Suddenly, the ship's engines hummed to life as its systems kicked in, and within moments they had blasted off the ground and into the atmosphere, their destination a very vague "anywhere in the vast expanse of space except this damned planet." Chapter 3: The Pilot "Clear the room," Gray ordered. The Gand bounty hunter nodded and escorted himself and the Stormtroopers out of Gray's temporary base of operations in the city of Fawn. Kylo had been attempting to contact him for several hours; by now, he must have known the reality of the situation. Taking a moment to steel himself, the Sith opened a channel to Kylo's offworld base using the room's holotable and apprehensively awaited the response. Immediately, the hologram flickered to life and Kylo appeared before him. "My lord, I take it you've received word by now th-" Something began to tug at Gray's throat, a invisible telekinetic force that stopped him mid sentence. He shoud have known - the Dark Side of the Force was a pathway to many abilities, some considered to be unnatural. Even from across the stars, Gray could not escape his unnofficial Sith Master's iron grip. "You have nerve, Gray," Kylo said. "First I humbly take you under my wing as my replacement apprentice, vowing to teach you the ways of the Force. I send you to do a simple task - capture or eliminate the untrained Jedi as necessary - and not only have you failed to do both, but now he's escaped Caritas and could be anywhere in the greater Galaxy." Gray struggled to breathe, not even able to utter a cry of mercy while his throat was constricted by Kylo's invisible grasp. Soon, he lost the ability to support himself, desperately clinging to the holotable for support as he tumbled to the ground. He hardly noticed as another figure entered the call, a sharply dressed officer decorated with the insignia of the First Order. "Sir, please forgive the interruption." "This had better be good." "Comm scan from a planetary satellite has detected a small vessel leaving the Caritas orbit. The vessel was cloaked, but we were able to get a reading on its emissions footprint. It matches the size and model of the Darkstar, ''a one Lucca Ren's personal starship, likely still accompanied by the Jedi we've been hunting. It appears your suspicions were correct, my lord." Kylo continued choking Gray expectantly. "The ''Darkstar was last traced heading in the general direction of your first guess for the Holocron's location, the forest moon of Dxun. It appears Skywalker is luring them both there, just as you anticipated. Now, we have pinpointed all three of their locations - and with any luck, wherever Skywalker is hiding, he's found the Holocron." Hesitantly, Kylo released Gray's throat, causing him to immediately scramble to his feet and desperately gasp for air for a few sustained moments. The Sith Master spared no time. "One day, your luck won't be able to save you," he said. "Gather what forces you have and meet me at these coordinates. Dxun is a treacherous moon, and most of the beasts there could kill you quite handily. Be swift." Gray nodded, still gathering his composure. He'd have to make arrangements to pay the bounty hunter overtime. ---- To be continued... Category:Star Wars